Swindoll to address University students

Dr. Charles Swindoll, president of the Dallas Theological Seminary, will speak on campus tonight as part of the University's Effective Preachers program.

Swindoll will address students at 7 p.m. in Jones Concert Hall in the Glennis McCrary Music Building and again in Chapel-Forum Wednesday.

'He's a fun-loving, Harley-riding preacher,' Dr. Charlie Dyer, assistant to the president and a professor at the seminary said in a phone interview. 'He enjoys every inch of life. He lives with a passion--whether it is preaching, living or riding, everything he does is done from the heart.'

Andrea Fraser, a Grand Junction, Colo., sophomore, said she and her family wanted to hear Swindoll speak, so they visited the church Swindoll pastored in California while they were there on vacation.

'Chuck Swindoll is a great teacher and a tremendous Biblical scholar,' Fraser said. 'He is clear and concise and he takes the Bible and makes it applicable to everyday life.'

Practicing as an ordained minister since 1963, Swindoll has held three pastoral positions, authored over 40 books, and is known for his radio broadcast entitled 'Insight for Living,' which airs worldwide.

'I think he is one of the most popular radio preachers and a man of integrity,' said University chaplain Dr. Milton Cunningham. 'He has an excellent ability to communicate, and he knows what to teach at all levels that makes it relevant.'

Megan Shelton, administrative assistant to Swindoll, described him as a man after God's own heart with a preaching style that is authentic, relevant and practical.

'He does not see his own importance,' Shelton said. 'He is humble, but in a way that is disarming. He does not take himself too seriously, but takes God's word seriously. I think he walks by the spirit and seeks the Lord's will for his life.'

Swindoll has worked since 1994 as the fourth president of the seminary, where he preaches in the chapel every other week and speaks to classes.

'The way he is in the pulpit is the way he talks, and that is how he connects with the students--he teaches them to be true in the Word,' Shelton said. 'He is exactly the same way in person as he is represented on that radio, and that is not always the case. There are people who are great in preaching but don't live it. What he preaches, he represents in his life.'